Fighting the Right

Religious Right Groups Plan Rallies to 'Stop the HHS Mandate'

Conservative organizations are planning to hold rallies on March 23rd across the country to “Stand up for Religious Freedom” and “Stop the HHS Mandate” on contraception coverage. Members of the new coalition include the Alliance Defense Fund, American Life League, Christian Defense Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Operation Rescue, Thomas More Society and various anti-choice groups, and they seek to organize demonstrations “outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country.” In a statement responding to a conciliatory move by the administration which ensures that religious-based organizations won’t have to pay directly for contraceptives, rally organizers doubled down on their criticisms of the Obama administration and said that they are against the insurance mandate’s impact on “all businesses—not just religious institutions”:

"With their March 16 statement, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius are once again pretending to accommodate employers' conscientious objections to their HHS Mandate. The accounting tricks they're proposing are nothing but smoke and mirrors. At the end of the day, employers are still forced to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans," said Eric Scheidler, co-director of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rallies across the United States.



We protest the federal government's definition of what constitutes a religious institution through the narrowly constructed "exemption" to the HHS Mandate, a definition which is both false and beyond the federal government's authority to make.

We protest the fact that religious institutions, even after President Obama's so-called "accommodation," are being forced to facilitate contraception, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs through the health plans they are mandated to provide.

We protest the Mandate forcing all businesses -- not just religious institutions -- to provide coverage of contraception, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, if even doing so violates their own moral convictions on these matters.

We protest the HHS Mandate because, in requiring all health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs as "preventative care," it treats pregnancy and childbirth as a disease.

Perkins and Santorum: Star-Crossed Supporters

Last night at his home church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following a scorching speech from pastor Dennis Terry, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins insisted that he will not endorse any candidate for president. Perkins even joked that the FRC didn’t even endorse its own leader, Gary Bauer, when he ran for president 2000.

But while Perkins, who calls Santorum his “good friend,” may not technically have endorsed anyone, he’s done just about everything else to support Santorum’s campaign.

Back in January it was Perkins who announced that Religious Right leaders had decided to coalesce behind Santorum, even as many were still supporting Newt Gingrich, and again earlier this month it was Perkins who hinted that Gingrich should drop out because “If they were to converge together you would have a majority” to defeat Romney. Perkins also participated in the Council for National Policy meeting where conservative leaders pledged financial support for his presidential campaign. Santorum even filled in for Perkins once on the American Family Association’s radio network as a guest host prior to launching his campaign for president.

Last night Perkins asked Santorum questions that surely provided red-meat to the megachurch crowd on issues like abortion, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the debt, and his faith, although at one point he asked the former Senator to explain his support for Arlen Specter’s re-election.

The Associated Press reported that Perkins hosted a private meeting between Santorum and pastors from across the country before last night’s event:

Nearly a hundred pastors from all over Louisiana and from as far away as Texas and Colorado accepted Family Research Council President Tony Perkins' invitation to hear a personal pitch Sunday from the former Pennsylvania senator, who met with them in a private briefing before he addressed the more than 1,400 faithful who crowded into the sanctuary at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church.

"What we need to do in this country is to rebuild that culture of life and rebuild that culture of marriage and families," Santorum said, standing in a small back room as the invited pastors gathered in an informal circle wearing handwritten name tags. "No one else talks about social issues."

...

Perkins, the head of the socially conservative Family Research Council, can't officially endorse a presidential candidate, but he made his personal feelings clear. "I'll tell you this," he said, "I wouldn't invite just anybody to my church."

Ironically, in 2008 Perkins was criticized for speaking too favorably of Romney and too critically of Mike Huckabee, who was then the preferred candidate of many in the Religious Right.

We have consistently documented Perkins’ extreme record:

  • said Islam is “evil”;
  • denied that there was a correlation between anti-gay bullying and depression and suicide, saying instead that gay and lesbian teens know they are “abnormal” and “have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict";

With views like that, it is no wonder that Perkins has become one of Santorum’s (unofficial) cheerleaders.

Robison: Wealthy Capitalists are the Victims of a Dangerous 'Type of Racism'

Over the weekend, James Robison and Jay Richards took their promotional tour for their new book "Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late" to Richard Land's weekly radio program.

During the interview, Robison warned that there is "a type of racism" growing in America against "free market capitalists" akin to the kind that they stood against along with Martin Luther King. 

Land then said that the next election was the most important since 1860, just as the 1980 election was the most important one regarding the survival of the Soviet Union, as Robison lamented that back in the 80s, the "enemy" was obvious to most people whereas "today the enemy is within":

Robison: Our economy is trembling, it's quaking. And we can correct it if we will come together and understand that the enemy is not the creator of wealth, it is not the free market capitalist crowd that do go out and create jobs, and opportunity, and investment. And we have really today biased the whole population against in them in a type of racism that is not only damaging but actually potentially very dangerous. There is an animosity and a hostility that you have to go all the way back to the horrible racism that you and I stood against along with Martin Luther King, that we detested. You have to look at that and see how dangerous it is.

Land: The 1980 election was the most important election for the Soviet Union, for the people of the Soviet Union, because it meant that they were going to be free. But the most important election for the United States since 1860 is this one because out future is at stake as America.

Robison: Right, and in 1980 you could see the enemy. It was quite obvious to most people we had a very serious threat. Today the enemy is within, it lurks in a very subtle and crafty way. And if we who know the truth do not point to the truth and stand for the truth and really get involved to turn back the tide, we are going to see in 3D the horrific collapse of the Untied States of America economically.

Whether Supporting Incumbents or Challengers, Super PACs Put Big Money in Charge

Proponents of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling have argued that Super PACs help shake up the almost-guaranteed reelection prospects for congressional incumbents, going so far as to cast Super PACS as a way to bring about a new era of good government. But the very nature of the Super PAC – a mechanism that enables wealthy individuals and special interests to secretly funnel money through corporate political donations in support of their favored candidates – practically invites corruption.

From the New York Times:

Incumbents in Congress usually have a huge fund-raising advantage over challengers. Big donors correctly assume they will probably be in office for years, and curry favor with contributions that only wealthy challengers can match. So why not try to neutralize this advantage by spending money on behalf of challengers? …

But the method they are using — a super PAC that can collect and spend unlimited amounts of money — is the opposite of good government, and demonstrates the inherent danger in allowing big money to steer election results. The handful of donors say their motives are pure, but the public has no way of knowing what their long-term goals are, or whether they have personal interests in the races they have chosen.

The electoral advantages incumbents enjoy is indeed a problem, but not one that is caused or solved by Citizens United. Super PAC funds are comprised not by grassroots donations but by large contributions from a few wealthy donors. Using these resources to usher challengers into office perpetuates the fundamentally anti-democratic influence of special interests of money in our elections.

Regardless of whether wealthy special interests seek to reelect reliable incumbents or replace them with sympathetic challengers, the end result is that the most influential voice in our elections is not that of the American people. We need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United in order to level the playing field for everyone – wealthy or otherwise.

PFAW

FRC Slams Obama 'Sin Requirement'

“Stop Obama’s Sin Requirement” screams the envelope of the latest direct mail letter from the Family Research Council. The letter inside takes the Religious Right’s attacks on the Obama to new depths of rhetorical ridiculousness: 
 
President Obama has decreed:
Christians must violate their consciences and sin…or else.
 
The letter is of course a continuation of the Religious Right’s campaign to portray rules requiring insurance coverage for contraceptives as an apocalyptic attack on religious freedom in America. And, the letter warns, that’s just the start. 
Washington is aggressively moving to silence the influence and freedom of Christians in every sphere of society. Churches and ministries, charities, Christian bookstores, radio and television stations, Christian businesses will face coercion—censorship—silencing—denial of licenses—even being shut down.
 
Why? Because the Obama Left has made it clear they have a goal: marginalize Christianity, make it irrelevant and powerless to influence morality, the role of the family, and the course of our nation. And as the role of the Church is diminished—expand the federal bureaucracy.
 
They want to replace the effective work of churches and charities and essentially replace them with government programs—more constly, less effective programs.
 
They want to get religion out of the equation and make America utterly unrecognizable as a nation founded upon Christian principles. There is an unprecedented ideology of hostility toward the Christian religion in Washington today.
 
….
One prominent church leader has said, “what war and disease cannot do to the congregation, the government of the United States will. It will shut them down.”
The call to arms over religious liberty is signed by Tony Perkins – the same Tony Perkins who recently stood with Rick Santorum and applauded his pastor who screamed that America was founded to be a Christian nation and anyone who doesn’t like it should “get out!”

Terry Vows to Testify Against Us on the Day of Judgment

Last week, Randall Terry released a video demanding that we and others acknowlege his primary "victory" in Oklahoma over President Obama , which we gladly did. 

But now it seems that Terry is not particularly pleased with the coverage that his video received and so he is back with a new video, this one warning us, Jezebel, The Huffington Post, TPM Muckraker, and The Young Turks that he will testify against us all on the Day of Judgment because we promote murder while mocking God and His servants and are thus condemning ourselves to Hell:

Randall Terry Weighing Third Party Run Against 'Pimp' Obama

While Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry’s challenge to President Obama for the Democratic nomination may have hit a snag recently, his campaign based around running graphic anti-abortion ads may continue into the general election as he is considering a run as a third party candidate and drafting allied congressional candidates. Terry believes that a presidential run won’t draw votes away from the Republican nominee, but from anti-choice Democrats who would otherwise support Obama:

To help carry his message on abortion and possibly expand opportunities to broadcast his anti-abortion television ads, he said that he has also helped recruit almost a half-dozen people running for Congress in swing states across the country who are making abortion the central issue of their campaigns.

“I am going to try to run my ads in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio,” he said. “I am going to try run them in all the swing states. Then on election night, when all the commentators are saying why he lost, it will be because of the images of those dead babies.”

Reacting to the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh’s tirades against Sandra Fluke, Terry called Fluke a “political prostitute” and Obama her “Political Pimp,” saying that Obama even had his “daughters pimped for the cause of sexual immorality.” “Obama prostituted Fluke in order to motivate and mobilize a small but important part of his base,” Terry writes, “fornicating college students who want to keep their beer money for beer, and get their birth control and abortifacients for free.”

The “slut” and “prostitute” comments by Rush Limbaugh are still making waves. The Obama administration is now pondering cutting off Rush from the Armed Forces Network radio stations. Is our Commander in Chief now moving toward thought control of the military?

The hubbub surrounding Rush's comments will clearly play a roll in the political debate for the rest of this election cycle. For that reason, it behooves those of us who still possess a functioning ethical compass to defend Rush, and call out the President for his horrific roll in this political drama.

Rush Limbaugh treated Miss Fluke as a worthy adversary. She stepped into the political ring to rumble; she decided – as the seasoned pro-abortion feminist activist that she is – to become the “poster prostitute” of “free love.” She decided – of her own free will – that she would become the lightning rod for all the poor little girls who want to “sleep around,” and have the rest of us pay for their birth control and abortifacients. Rush treated her as a worthy opponent, and responded to her with rhetoric equal to the battle.

Ms. Fluke chose her role as the protagonist/political prostitute. That means she has to take her licks like a big girl, and hold her own. Miss Fluke can’t have it both ways; she can’t be the adult in a fierce debate, and also be the little girl who is getting picked on. She cannot be both sultry superwoman and helpless damsel in distress. She cannot cry foul because a great political voice treated her public and political statements as political "free game."

Enter President Obama. He pretended to be her “Knight in Shining Armor” but in fact acted as her Political Pimp. He has shamelessly used her for his political agenda. By telephoning her and lionizing her he further prostituted her for his sake, not hers. For Ms. Fluke, this is the height of being used, objectified, and “politically pimped.”

But then President Obama really crossed the line: he used his own daughters to further this agenda. Ponder it well: Obama said, “I thought of my daughters when I called Sandra Fluke…I wanted Sandra to know that I thought her parents should be proud of her, and that we want to send a message to all our young people that being part of a democracy involves argument and disagreements and debate.”

I (Randall) raised two little girls. When my daughters were young, neither heaven nor hell could have compelled me to use them in an illustration where they were sexually promiscuous, and then publically demanding that tax payers fund their immoral behavior. I do not know a father who would say this. And I am certain – as one dad to another – that President Obama does not want his daughters as “sexually active” unmarried girls sleeping around, calling out to tax payers to pick up their birth control/abortifacient tab. If they were, he would not be proud, he would be heartbroken. As an intelligent man, President Obama knows the heartache and dangers that attend sexual immorality.

So why did he say it? Because this was about a political agenda for getting votes; it was not about sexual ethics or good parenting. Obama prostituted Fluke in order to motivate and mobilize a small but important part of his base; fornicating college students who want to keep their beer money for beer, and get their birth control and abortifacients for free. Obama had great enthusiasm with young voters for “hope and change” in 2008; since those promises have proved illusory, he is now opting for the lower road of drugs and orgasms.

Rush is a brilliant thinker; he treated Ms. Fluke as a worthy opponent. Obama treated her like a political prostitute. History will bear Rush witness that he was right. And believe me, fathers all over America are hoping they never see their daughters pimped for the cause of sexual immorality, birth control, and drugs that kill the unborn.

Rick Scarborough Organizing 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting to Save America

It looks like Vision America's Rick Scarborough is launching a new prayer and fasting effort timed to coincide with the 2010 elections called "40 Days to Save America" which, he insists "is not a political effort" because "the political problems which beset us are symptoms of a deeper spiritual malaise:

Starting on September 24, and continuing through November 2, we are calling for a Great Religious Awakening through 40 DAYS of prayer, fasting and repentance ...The place to start isn’t with primaries, platforms and conventions, but rather through prayer, fasting and repentance.

• We are calling for pastors, priests and rabbis to open their churches and synagogues throughout America for 40 days for prayer and fasting, each person seeking their own level of unselfish sacrifice as we corporately and individually seek God for His intervention in our beloved nation.

• We are calling for Christian and Jewish voters to make informed choices, voting not as Republicans or Democrats, but as followers of the living God.

• We are calling for our leaders to have the wisdom and discernment to act according to His will and not based on personal or partisan considerations.

In a video announcing the project, Scarborough says the goal is the recruit 40,000 religious leaders who will lead the congregations in forty days of prayer and fasting for the nation leading up to the election because "this is a time of national tragedy where he must have God help us [because] it is almost as if He is sounding the alarm": 

Gary Bauer Warns Against Violence Against Women Act

American Values president Gary Bauer demanded Republicans oppose the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, writing in Human Events today that the bill is a “trap.” Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans all voted against re-authorization and Bauer insisted that they oppose the legislation because of “provisions allowing abused illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas and programs for same-sex couples.” As Legal Momentum’s Lynn Hecht Schafran notes, protections for immigrants and women in same-sex relationships have “always been true about the bill but required clarification.”

Bauer, who regularly rails against the “war on religion,” the “war on Christmas” and the “social, political and cultural war in our country,” also expressed his anger that progressives are using the phrase “war” as part of “painting conservatives as domestic policy war mongers,” and of course didn’t miss an opportunity to criticize Sandra Fluke:

Whether it’s the “war on science” or the “war on labor unions,” the left never tires of painting conservatives as domestic policy war mongers. Now liberals are revisiting another fictitious conservative war, against women.

At the Women in the World Summit in New York last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted tyrants across the globe. “They want to control how we dress, they want to control how we act, they even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies,” Clinton said.

Then she compared Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Sandra Fluke. “Women and girls…throughout the world,” she said, “are assuming the risks that come with sticking your neck out, whether you are a democracy activist in Burma or a Georgetown law student in the United States.”

It was absurd for America’s top diplomat to compare a chief target of one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes to the law student/abortion activist.



Obama cited Fluke’s “bravery” when he spoke about her. But a more apt word is “shamelessness.”

Speaking of shameless, while Clinton has made advancing women’s rights a major rhetorical theme of her time at State, the Obama administration has ignored and even supported egregious violations against women.



Whining about the “war on women” in a Politico op-ed last week, former Democratic Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm wrote, “Republican obsession with Planned Parenthood alone has become a form of legislative sexual McCarthyism.”

In case there was any doubt about the centrality of the “war on women” theme to the Democratic campaign, Senate Democrats are pushing to extend the Violence Against Women Act, with a vote by the end of March.

Most Republicans support the law, but it’s a trap. The legislation includes not only laudable programs like grants to battered women’s shelters but also provisions allowing abused illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas and programs for same-sex couples.



Allusions to the Republican “war on women” will continue as a major Democratic campaign theme. But they’re just Democrats’ way of diverting voters’ attention from their own failures and injustices toward women.

Update: Concerned Women for America, a consistent opponent of the Violence Against Women Act, in an email to members today claimed that the law “destroys the family”:

VAWA, in its current form, is a boondoggle for feminist groups. It has morphed into a series of rigid and ineffective law enforcement programs that continue to spend approximately $455 million each year. Instead of helping women and children, this legislation creates a large bureaucracy and destroys the family by obscuring real violence in order to promote the feminist agenda.



Finally, this bill creates a new series of expensive and unnecessary programs that further complicate the process of giving aid to these women and push a feminist agenda (such as one $15 million program that attempts to "re-educate" school children into domestic violence ideology [Section 302]).

VAWA harms women by diluting assistance to real victims and by tearing the family apart. Please call your senators today at 202-224-3121, and urge them to oppose VAWA. 

Pastor Dennis Terry Introduces Rick Santorum, Tells Liberals and Non-Christians to 'Get Out' of America

Greenwell Springs Baptist Church pastor Dennis Terry introduced presidential candidate Rick Santorum and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins tonight in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a rousing speech railing against liberals and non-Christians and condemning abortion rights, "sexual perversion," same-sex marriage and secular government. Terry said that America "was founded as a Christian nation" and those that disagree with him should "get out! We don't worship Buddha, we don't worship Mohammad, we don't worship Allah!" Terry, who has a long history of attacks against the gay community, went on to criticize marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and said that the economy can only recover when we "put God back" in government.

Watch:

Update: At the end of the event, Terry prayed over Santorum and asked God to "have favor upon Rick Santorum" and to "do a mighty work" in President Obama's life:

Santorum Pledges to Restore Don't Ask Don't Tell

While sitting down with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council at the Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, Rick Santorum doubled down on his commitment to bring back the discriminatory Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Perkins, a staunch opponent of Don't Ask Don't Tell's repeal, said the Obama administration "has systematically used this military for social experimentation" by "overturning the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy and forcing open homosexuality on the military," asking Santorum if he would "reverse" the repeal. Santorum said the repeal was "not in the best interest of our men and women in uniform" and pledged to restore Don't Ask Don't Tell, but added, "that doesn't mean that people who are gays and lesbians can't serve."

Watch:

Santorum: Obama Allowed Iranian Protesters 'To Be Slaughtered in the Streets'

During his appearance at the Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, just outside of in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rick Santorum told Family Research Council president Tony Perkins that "President Obama sided with the theocrats, sided with the radical Islamists" during Iran's Green Revolution. After a discussion of the 2006 Iran Freedom and Support Act, Santorum said that Obama refused to "help and work" with the protest movement and "allowed those pro-democracy people to be slaughtered in the streets and imprisoned and tortured."

Watch:

Santorum: We need to embrace and engage the Persian people and help liberate them from the oppression. And when the opportunity came for this President to do so after we passed that bill, by the way over his opposition originally when he was in the Senate, he didn't fund the opposition, he didn't help and work with them, and when the revolution came in 2009, when they had the ability to topple this regime that was producing a nuclear weapon, President Obama sided with the theocrats, sided with the radical Islamists and allowed those pro-democracy people to be slaughtered in the streets and imprisoned and tortured as they are today.

Invisible Children and the Religious Right: What’s the Deal?

Long before Kony 2012 became an Internet sensation, the film’s director, Jason Russell, was a hit with the Religious Right and the broader evangelical community. Russell, the founder of Invisible Children, has been lavished with praise on Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and on stage at Jerry Falwell’s university. Additionally, as Bruce Wilson has explored, Invisible Children has received substantial funding from extremely conservative Christian groups and foundations. Why?

The reason is not that Invisible Children is part of the Religious Right – it’s not. And while it’s true that the organization and the Religious Right share some interests and enemies in Uganda and Sudan, that’s not the reason either.
 
Instead it’s the religious basis of the organization. Russell first went to Africa as a child missionary and formed the organization as an alternative to traditional missionary organizations, whose model he found problematic. While Russell and his staff are careful to project a strictly secular brand, Russell has projected quite a different image when speaking to evangelical and Religious Right audiences.
 
In a 2010 podcast interview with Relevant magazine (listen below), Russell discussed his reason for keeping religion out of their brand and marketing:
We just always felt really, not offended, but felt it was too delicate of a choice to put the cross on our website, or to put a fish on the website because you're honestly dealing with the truth, and the creator, and so to make a brand around that and to have money flow in and out around that idea, at least in our paradigm, felt cheap or inauthentic. … That's just me candidly speaking. […]
He said that spirituality is an inescapable part of their work, but that it’s difficult to explain to a western audience that has been “raised on science, logic, and reasoning.”
Host: What conversations have you guys had about the holistic rehabilitation of some of the children you guys have worked with, and what role their spiritual development might play in some of the rehabilitation you believe should take place in their lives.
               
Russell: For us, the mentors that are rehabilitating the children who've been affected by this for, it is not a question whether spirituality plays into it or doesn't. It is not something like a line item on an annual report or anything. It's like, of course. I've never met a Ugandan who is an atheist. […]
 
Their spiritual life is so much more engaged and involved in their day to day, that having a spiritual holistic healing element to these children who have been affected by the war is a no-brainer. It's totally a part of the healing and the message. And at the same time it's difficult to communicate that or translate to the West who has been raised on science, logic, and reasoning and not so much the spiritual realm.
He also addressed criticism from other Christians that Invisible Children isn’t doing enough to evangelize:
Host: How have you guys wrestled with the issues of faith, not only in your personal lives but in the stories of your organization, as you guys have become more and more a topic of mainstream conversation?
 
Russell: For myself, I accepted Christ into my heart when I was 5, and my first experience with Africa was on a mission trip spreading the gospel through drama. There was a disillusionment, or a distaste, for that approach to the Christendom message being spread. I felt that there was a bridge that needed to be built. […]
 
We're not afraid to say "I'm a lover of Christ and what he brought to Earth and what he's doing in the world." But there's such a delicate balance to bringing that into the work arena when it comes to the culture right now.
 
I think that, there's been a lot of criticism that we've had over the years, but when it comes down to it, we are not afraid to say "I as an individual am this." But Invisible Children, it's not its mission to bring Christ's message to the invisible children. And when people say, "well why don't you bring Christ to those children in Uganda?" And my answer has always been, because they know Christ far more than I or anyone in Western world or in the Christian church knows Christ, because it's truly all that they've ever had. […]

Listen to the highlights of the podcast interview here:

Russell touched on similar topics at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University last November:

NAR Critic Slams James Dobson and 'Pro-Family Leaders' for 'Giving Credibility to False Teachers'

Earlier today we reported on the appearance of the International House of Prayer’s Lou Engle on James Dobson’s radio show Family Talk, where Dobson, who appeared at Engle’s The Call: San Diego prayer rally to mobilize support Proposition 8, endorsed Engle’s latest prayer rally in Dallas, Texas. But the growing connections between Religious Right leaders and New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and dominionist figures like Engle have enraged influential conservative Christian commentator Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend. Last year, Howse strongly denounced Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally, and the American Family Association, which co-hosted the event, even forced broadcasters who appeared on the AFA’s radio network to cut ties with Howse.

On his radio show this week, Howse laced into Dobson for consolidating his partnership with Engle, arguing that Dobson’s collaboration with Engle is an example of how “pro-family leaders” are “giving credibility to false teachers.” He also cited evangelist John MacArthur’s criticism of NAR, saying they are “blaspheming the Holy Ghost.”

Howse concludes by warning that Religious Right leaders have no interest in learning more about NAR’s theology, and that their activism “is how you destroy a culture and speed up God’s judgment”:

Howse: You’re going to listen to Lou Engle, Jim Dobson, on what’s biblical? Would you know what was biblical or not biblical coming out of the mouth of Lou Engle? Are you enough of a Verian, Jim Dobson, that you would know whether what he was saying was biblical or not? Because this is the kind of stuff that Lou Engle has said, are you ready?

If we actually have The Call and you don’t sustain prayer ongoing you open a vacuum for demons seven times worse to come in, if black and white can’t move together in prayer and sustain it, forget it let’s not even go there, you get demons seven times worse.

Demons seven times worse? So if we actually have The Call he says and you don’t sustain prayer ongoing you open a vacuum for demons seven times worse? Where is that in the Bible? Where is that in the Bible? So does Dobson agree with his? Does Dobson agree with IHOP? Does Dobson agree with contemplative prayer and the things that are being promoted within the New Apostolic Reformation? Does he agree with blaspheming the Holy Ghost, because that’s what [John] MacArthur says these guys are doing, and I agree with MacArthur, does Dobson even know this? Or is this exactly the kind of example I’ve been trying to paint for the church in America today is you better be very careful who you’re listening to, just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they’re right.

Do you understand when I tell you that some of the biggest pro-family leaders in America I believe have become some of the biggest potential threats to the true Bible-believing church by the fact that they’re giving credibility, I believe, this is my opinion you can agree or disagree, but I believe they are giving credibility to false teachers. John MacArthur, again, says they are blaspheming the Holy Ghost. And you wonder why I get so fired up and why I don’t have any patience and tolerance for this anymore when these people have been warned, when I specifically have warned many of them myself with phone calls to them, when there are search engines and there are organizations that write papers, people who have been a part of IHOP who have left and who have written extensive reports and papers?

But as so many of these guys would tell me ‘oh we’re not a theological group, we have to work with lots of people to reclaim the culture.’ Folks, if embracing false teachers is how you reclaim the culture I don’t want to be a part of it. Secondly, it’s not how you reclaim the culture, I think God’s Word tells us, Romans 1, this is how you destroy a culture and speed up God’s judgment.

Randall Terry Won't Receive Any Delegates for his Oklahoma 'Victory'

Earlier this week, Randall Terry demanded that we acknowledge his "victory" over Barack Obama, our "baby-killing president," in Oklahoma's Democratic primary.

So we guess that we are also obligated to take note of the fact that, despite his "victory," Terry will not actually receive any delegates because his "campaign" failed to file the proper paperwork:

Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry said Friday he's been told he will not be allocated any delegates from the Oklahoma Democratic primary because his campaign did not file the proper paperwork and because the national party does not recognize him as a legitimate candidate.

"This action is 'political insider trading,' " Terry said in a release. "It's stealing in broad daylight. It shows the power and the corruption of the (Democratic) Party."

State party rules say candidates must file a delegate slate ahead of the primary, which party leaders said Terry did not do.

Keller: 'The Homosexual Community and Media' are to Blame for Tyler Clementi's Suicide

After blaming the gay community for the suicide of Jamie Hubley, today evangelist Bill Keller is holding prominent gay and lesbian figures like Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres responsible for Tyler Clementi’s suicide:

Bill Keller, the world's leading Internet Evangelist and the founder of LivePrayer.com, with over 2.4 million subscribers worldwide reading the daily devotional he has written every morning for 12 years on the issues of the day from a Biblcial [sic] worldview, says Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Ellen DeGeneres, the media, and gutless pastors are guilty for the death of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi, not Dharun Ravi!

A New Jersey court today found Dharun Ravi guilty of a "hate crime" in the death of his roommate Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after being video taped in a homosexual relationship. Liveprayer's Bill Keller said that it is those in the media who glamorize and promote this choice as normal and acceptable, along with gutless pastors too afraid to speak out against this sin, and faux churches that glorify this deviant, unnatural, and unhealthy choice of sexual activity, who are the real guilty parties in Clementi's death.

Keller stated, "Sadly we deal with the loved ones of those who commit suicide every day. Suicide is a desperate and selfish act that is ultimately the sole responsibility of the person who made the choice to end their life. Everyone who commits suicide has reasons that led them to make such a horrible decision. The fact is, suicide is exponentially higher amongst those who choose the homosexual lifestyle, and while those in the media want to blame people like myself who take a Biblical stand on this issue, the fact is, they are the ones most responsible!"

Keller goes on, "It is the homosexual community and media who promote this lifestyle to society, forcing it to validate legally and ethically this choice of sexual behavior and relationships to our children as normal, even desirable behavior!" He adds, "The Bible says in the last days the truth will become a lie, and the lie the truth."

Matt Barber called the prosecution of the case "scary stuff" in an interview with OneNewsNow:

Reacting to the conviction, Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action warns there is a double standard involved.

"If the same circumstances occurred ... but Tyler Clementi had identified as a heterosexual, there is no dispute that we would not be talking about these additional charges and the conviction," he suggests. "So essentially, we see that we have varying classes of victims. All victims are not created equal."

Barber takes the situation one step further, asking if in the event someone "outs" a closeted homosexual and the homosexual commits suicide, could that person then be criminally liable for the deed? "This other individual is now charged with a crime because of what the suicide victim has done to himself?" he wonders. "This is scary. This is scary stuff."

In light of this verdict, the attorney also expresses concern of whether one day it could be considered a criminal act when a Christian speaks out about the sin of homosexuality.

Clementi, 18, jumped to his death from New York's George Washington Bridge days after the spying in September 2010.

Another 'False News Friday' with David Barton

As we noted last month, every Friday David Barton and Rick Green host "Good News Friday" on their "Wallbuilders Live" radio program during which they discuss "good news from around the nation the media doesn't report."

These programs are particularly interesting because they typically feature stories that Barton has plucked from the media which, he believes, demonstrate that the Religious Right is racking up victories all over the country.

The problem with these stories, as with so much else that he does, is that Barton has a tendency to over-simplify and misrepresent just what is taking place.

He did it a few weeks ago when he falsely claimed that an Eastern Michigan University had won a lawsuit against the school after being thrown out of her program for refusing to "affirm a client’s homosexual behavior," citing religious objections. 

The court had merely ruled that the student had a right to sue and did not rule on the merits of the case itself, but Barton nonetheless proclaimed it to be a "huge, huge victory [that is] going to be cited across the nation for all sorts of other kids that are facing the same kind of discrimination."

And he did it again today when he asserted that study shows that teens who remain abstinent earn $370,000 more in the lifetimes:

If a teenager wants to earn $370,000 more in their lifetime than all their neighbors, you know what they need to do? A study now shows that if you are not sexually active as a teenage, you do earn $370,000 more in your lifetime than others.

Now explain that ... it just shows God's ways work.

If that claim sounds familiar, it is probably because Amber Haskew, Coordinator of the Day of Purity, made it earlier this year and, as we pointed out then, the figure comes from a 2005 Heritage Foundation report that didn't actually provide any data to support this assertion, but simply predicted that students who abstain are also likely to do better in school and therefore have higher lifetime earnings:

Teens who abstain are likely to have greater future orientation, greater impulse control, greater perseverance, greater resistance to peer pressure, and more respect for parental and societal values. These traits are likely to contribute to higher academic achievement. In short, teen virgins are more likely to possess character traits that lead to success in life. Moreover, the practice of abstinence is likely to foster positive character traits that, in turn, will contribute to academic performance ... In our society, greater educational attainment leads, on average, to higher lifetime incomes. Because they are more successful in school, teen virgins can expect to have, on average, incomes that will be 16 percent higher than sexually active teens from identical socio-economic backgrounds. This will mean an average increase of $370,000 in income over a lifetime.

Obviously, the study did not show that those who abstain early nearly $400K more, but merely estimated that those who did so would demonstrate "greater educational attainment" and therefore earn more, on average, over their lifetimes.

But that is not what Barton reported at all and this demonstrates a central point about Barton and his work:  if he cannot be trusted to accurately report on contemporary issues that are easily verifiable to anyone with internet access, how can he be trusted to accurately report on the things that he plucks out of centuries-old documents squirreled away in his private library that very few others ever get to see or examine? 

UPDATED: Invisible Children and 'Kill the Gays' Pastor Martin Ssempa

[UPDATED: I've added a response from Invisible Children at the end of this post. The group says it "has never and will never have a relationship with Martin Ssempa."]

A video posted five years ago by a student group at Grove City College – a small evangelical school in Pennsylvania – raises questions about whether Invisible Children, the organization behind the viral juggernaut Kony 2012, has worked with notorious Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa

Ssempa, a longtime anti-gay activist, is the chairman of the National Taskforce against Homosexuality in Uganda and a major proponent of legislation that calls for the execution of gays and lesbians who are found “guilty” of having homosexual sex. He regularly shows graphic gay porn during his presentations and seems obsessed with outrageous fetishes, typically of the scatological variety, that he claims are common practice among gay men. In addition to bashing gays, Ssempa is a major proponent of restricting access to condoms and fighting the AIDS epidemic with abstinence education – which has had disastrous consequences.
 
According to the video posted by Grove City students, a “team of people” from Invisible Children came to their campus in February of 2005 and showed them a video about child soldiers in Uganda. The students were energized by the film and wanted to help, but they weren’t sure how.
 
Then “The Vision” for their project arrived, according to the students:
Student 1: A guy named Martin Ssempa came our way, who is a Ugandan-born world leader in the AIDS activism and abstinence education. He came to Grove City College and spoke to us and gave us the plan to send this shipment of “love” over to Uganda.
 
Student 2: Martin Ssempa is an amazing man. He just shared a lot about his vision for healing in Africa, particularly in his country.
The students created a group called Project Okello to work on behalf of Invisible Children at Grove City. They went on to collect an impressive amount of clothing, blankets, medical supplies, and more and sent it off to Uganda through Invisible Children.
 
 
The students’ fundraising efforts were heartfelt and generous and undoubtedly helped individuals in Uganda. I applaud them for that.
 
But it’s extremely troubling that Ssempa and Invisible Children appeared to be coordinating their efforts. The best case scenario is that Ssempa and Invisible Children happened to cross paths at a single college and unwittingly reinforced one anothers’ efforts. A much more disturbing scenario would be if Invisible Children actually works, or has worked, directly with Ssempa.
 
No matter how well-intentioned one’s efforts are, there’s no place for American charities to work with someone who seeks the death penalty for gays and lesbians and would block the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. Invisible Children should clarify what relationship, if any, they have or have had with Ssempa.
 
On March 20, 2012, Invisible Children sent us the following response:
Invisible Children has never and will never have a relationship with Martin Ssempa. This specific video, from 2005, highlights a self-organized group of students that appears to have wanted to support Invisible Children.  Invisible Children visited Grove City College, but not until 2006 – the year IC began its road tour program - and certainly not due to any connection with Martin Ssempa. Invisible Children fully supports gay rights in the United States and around the world, and has spoken out for years against acts of violence on members of the LGBT community in Uganda. Hate in any form is counterproductive to our mission.
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